An US Navy EA-18G Growler. USN
The Warzone/The Drive: Freezing Navy EA-18G Crew In Ice Filled Cockpit Navigated Home Using Their Smart Watches
The plane made it back to base, but the potentially deadly mishap is the latest spectacular failure for the Growler's environmental control system.
A U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler recently made it back to base after suffering a terrifying mid-air mishap, which left its two-person crew flying blind and frostbitten after the aircraft’s environment control system failed in part thanks to a pair of high-tech wrist watches. The incident occurred just over a year after the canopy on another one of the electronic warfare planes exploded in a bizarre over-pressurization incident and as the service continues to struggle to find exactly what’s causing persistent reports of “hypoxia-like” symptoms across the F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and Growler fleets.
Defense News was first to report this new incident, which occurred approximately 60 miles south of Seattle, Washington. The EA-18G, assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine (VX-9), was flying at approximately 25,000 feet on a mission from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, between Seattle and Vancouver BC, when the cockpit temperature plummeted to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
Read more ....
Update: Flying blind and freezing: Navy investigating terrifying EA-18G Growler flight (Defense News)
WNU Editor: The crew was lucky to survive.
